With the attention span of online users getting smaller each day, mobile devices taking the lead in the competition for screen time and more brands fighting for attention online, video has moved from an added element of a marketing strategy to an imperative piece of your content creation. Luckily, there are online tools that guide business owners, marketing gurus and social media managers from creation to execution with ease. So … lights, camera, action. Or should we say drag, drop and publish.
Social sharing is one of the simplest forms of earned distribution. It often happens organically, but you can encourage social shares by getting the ball rolling. Set up a schedule to post your video content from your corporate and personal accounts on every social channel you’re active on. Send a private message to friends and family to do the same. If you know anyone in a related field or industry, make sure they share your content, too! Though it’s not the best method, you can even incentivize shares by creating a contest or giveaway through an app like Rafflecopter.
If you're looking for awareness, share your video content on social media and optimise it for video SEO. Consider how much you might need to spend on video ads on YouTube or Facebook to help speed up traction. Think about which influencers you can connect with to help expand your reach. As you move further down the funnel, you'll want to target leads where they're already showing interest and engagement with you: like on your website, in emails and in sales conversations.

Video advertising is becoming more and more affordable and widespread. Video adoption grows partly because advances in technology but also because it’s easy to spread across the globe. Making marketing videos for your business requires creativity and knowledge of human psychology. The cocktail of these components makes it possible to create real miracles of advertising at minimal cost.

There are two crucial components to any video: audio and visuals. On production day, you want to make sure both are meeting your standards. You’ll want to test all your equipment and work with an experienced producer to get the best sound and picture possible. You’ll want to check all the sound equipment (mics, booms, and more), as well as all your camera equipment. If you’re on set, make sure your shots match your storyboard and your brand style. If you’re not on set, ask for photos or video chat for a few minutes to make sure your video is coming together as it should.
Owned distribution is always a must, though, since you own and have complete control over these channels. There’s the lowest barrier to entry here and they also have the most opportunity due to how many different options for distribution you have. If one form of owned doesn’t work, another surely will. And, if your goal is to capture leads, using your owned channels is especially crucial.
Tripods range tremendously in price, and the quality of your tripod should depend on the level of camera and lens you have. If you're shooting with your phone, you can get by with a table mount like the Arkon Tripod Mount or a full-size tripod like the Acuvar 50” Aluminum Tripod. For a DSLR, Manfrotto makes a variety of trustworthy tripods starting with the Manfrotto BeFree and increasing in quality and price from there.
Earned distribution, like owned, is free. You have relatively little to lose using it other than time and effort, but unlike owned and paid, the payoff can be drastically more unpredictable. From SEO efforts that boost your search presence, to building relationships with influencers you’ve never met, you never quite know what your ROI will be — it can be enormous or it can fizzle to an end. But don’t skip earned distribution altogether! Take a little more time to think strategically about which earned channels will help you accomplish your video goals.
You may remember George Takei from Star Trek but now he is managing exceptionally written social media channels and has grown a massive following. How did he do it? He has mastered the art of a strong caption. His captions have a clear point of view, are littered with emojis (not a must but a great addition for many brands) and make elicit an emotional reaction, and better yet the motivation to comment and/or share with friends. This can be from a simple statement or an interesting question, as long as it’s authentic.

The pre-production stageExtended ArticleEverything You Need to Know About Video Pre-ProductionPre-production is the first and one of the most important stages of the video production process. If you’re thinking of hiring a video production… Read More essentially covers all your video planning. It’s the first and most important stage of the production process because it sets your entire video in motion. At this stage, you’ll want to clearly define the content of your video, get feedback from all relevant team members, and start booking and scheduling your shoot. If you’re hiring a production team or agency, you’ll want to do all your company vetting, creative calls, and approvals here.

Instead, place a laptop below the eye-line of the camera. Break the script into short paragraphs and record it section by section until you capture a great take of each. If you plan in advance when the final video will show b-roll (supplementary footage or screenshots), you can have your talent read those lines directly off the laptop like a voice over.
The first step in creating your video strategy is outlining your video’s goals. Ideally, you’ll want to create a video forExtended ArticleThe Right Video Content for Your Marketing FunnelBefore you embark on creating a video marketing strategy, it’s important to know what stage of the marketing funnel you’re targeting. This is important… Read More every stage of the marketing funnel. But, initially, you’ll have to decide which stage is the most important to target.
Testimonial videos are one of the strongest types of videos Extended Article11 Powerful Customer Testimonial Videos Done RightPicture This You’re a small business owner and you’re trying to nurture your leads into becoming customers. You’ve already attracted an audience, engaged them on… Read More you can make; they show past or current satisfied customers talking about their positive experience using your product or service.
With an agency, you shouldn’t worry too much about these details. At Lemonlight, we schedule a creative call to review your ideas and give you feedback based on what we’ve seen work. We also provide new concepts and any direction you might need. But agreeing on a creative direction is crucial — your creative will be what communicates your branding and what will dictate how memorable your brand video is.
Next come audience insights. You can't create video content useful to your audience without first researching who that audience is, what they care about and what their problems are. To discover what makes your target audience tick you'll need to go far beyond just demographics to qualitative data gathered from interviews and surveys. Finally, dividing your audience into marketing or buyer personas allows you to create even more relevant content tailored to their specific wants and needs.
Professional cameras, like DSLRs, give you fine control over the manual settings of shooting video and allow you to achieve the shallow depth of field (background out of focus) that people rave about. While they're primarily used for photography, DSLRs are incredibly small, work great in low light situations, and pair with a wide range of lenses — making them perfect for video. However, DSLRs do require some training (and additional purchases) of lenses.
If you’re targeting prospects and hoping to nurture them, you’re hopefully giving them a direct action to take. Measuring the ROI here means simply creating tracking links that will give you this information directly. Increases in your desired action taken should show you your exact lift in revenue. (For instance, if you count an email signup as your conversion, your lift in signups should relate directly to a lift in sales, all other things constant. Plus, you’ll have this user information on file and can then track if or when they convert.)
There are endless platforms for video marketing. YouTube, broadcast television, video boards and street marketing, you name it. The possibilities are endless. With a smartphone, consumers can access online video anytime, anywhere. The same is not true with traditional, paper marketing. With video, you can reach your audience wherever they are in a cost-effective way.
When it comes time to shoot, clear out unnecessary people from the room and turn off the overhead lights. With your three-point lighting setup, there will be no need for those harsh fluorescents. When — and only when — everything is set up, call in your talent. There's nothing worse than being nervous, and then having to anxiously watch as lights are turned on and the camera is tested.
Narrative videos are probably the most recognizable style of video besides animation. They use classic storytelling elements, including character building, conflict, and resolution, to tell your brand story in an entertaining and engaging way. They create a journey — one your viewer can easily follow and relate to. Client: Key Smart (Curv Group) Because their goal is to tell a story, narrative videos often work best top of funnel, when users are just learning about the problem they face and you’re introducing your brand. Whether you tell the story of how your company came to be, the story of a frustrated customer finding you for the first time, or the story of a fictional hero character, your narrative should be memorable and help your brand stay on the mind of anyone who watches it.
Finally, you need to execute the plan for marketing and distributing your content that was created at the strategic stage. Like any other part of content marketing, video isn't successful unless your target audience see it and engage with it in the way you want. And your video content marketing strategy as a whole won't work unless each piece of video content comes together to form a cohesive marketing funnel moving leads from awareness to consideration to decision.
With an agency, you shouldn’t worry too much about these details. At Lemonlight, we schedule a creative call to review your ideas and give you feedback based on what we’ve seen work. We also provide new concepts and any direction you might need. But agreeing on a creative direction is crucial — your creative will be what communicates your branding and what will dictate how memorable your brand video is.
Most of all, your video is never complete without a call-to-action as your final slide. You’re not creating video ads just for the fun of it, though it is fun, but because you want to lead your audience to do something. Clarify what you want them to do and exactly where they should go after seeing your add. The standard best practice would be adding your business logo, tagline and your website or link for that unique campaign.
The exact settings on your camera will depend on your model, but there's likely an auto option, a bunch of presets (daylight, cloudy, tungsten, etc.), and custom. Avoid auto white balance at all costs and opt for a preset or custom instead. If you have a top-of-the-line DSLR, there may also be an option to manually set the color temperature of the room, measured in Kelvin.
The definition of video marketing is not complex. In fact, it’s rather simple: using video to promote or market your brand, product or service. A strong marketing campaign incorporates video into the mix. Customer testimonials, videos from live events, how-to videos, explainer videos, corporate training videos, viral (entertainment) videos — the list goes on.